“How would you rate your stress?”
“I don’t know… moderate.”
How do you actually rate stress?
For years, I rated my stress as “moderate,” no matter what. Good times, bad times, highly stressful times, exhausted times. I had no other words for it and I certainly did not have a number.
Stress is just so amorphous. It’s hard to pin down. It’s always there. And if I’m still functioning, it can’t be that bad… right?
Earlier this year, I was introduced to the concept of heart rate variability (HRV) as a real time metric for stress. It turns out that the heart has some variability in the rate at which it beats when the body is in a rest state. As we get more stressed, it becomes more steady like a metronome. You can put a number to that metric and come up with a real time stress score. And that’s exactly what a new wave of wearable devices has done.
In June, I enrolled in PT Health Study, which is run by a group of physical therapists crowdsourcing this kind of data from Garmin devices. It “is a collaboration to develop a system which detects, interprets, and minimizes the impact of acute distress/illness using existing wearable technology.”(https://www.pthealthstudy.org/)
Right up my ally.
I found the stress scores and the “Body Battery” to be some of the most useful and insightful metrics for understanding how my body functions. The Body Battery is a 0-100 scale of energy reserve that is based on stress, sleep, and activity.
Turns out, my battery is particularly susceptible to alcohol and long hours on Zoom — hallmarks of 2020.
I have meltdowns when my Body Battery is below 30.
These little insights have helped me to set better expectations and boundaries with myself, my work, and within my marriage.
I could geek out on all the work that has been done so far and the potential for this type of healthcare, but I’ll spare you that today.
Instead, I asked my husband, Taylor, to share his experience with measuring his stress and energy. He works in the construction industry where stress is aplenty.
His perspective:
I’ve been using a Garmin device for a few months now. It has been, on the whole, a good thing. It has helped me to avoid high stress situations when I’m not up to them, plan workouts, get up from my desk more often, and (because she’s wearing one too) help negotiate discussions within my marriage.
In a work environment, it has helped by letting me know when I am stressed or tired. This knowledge helped me to curtail out of character reactions to the stresses of work, even in these harder COVID times. I’ve been able to plan the delivery of bad news around when I’ve got the reserves to deal with the stress of delivering it and receiving the blowback therefrom. It has helped me to know when to do the activities that most stress me when my schedule allows for that level of control.
At home, my wife and I are both wearing a device. The Garmin gives us language to communicate our energy level to each other quantifiably – rather than competing for who is the most tired. We are able to state where our respective body batteries are numerically, rather than blindly telling each other we are “fine.” It’s been a boon to say and to hear that we’re at 33%, rather than “I’m a little worn out.”
The Garmin does a great job of reminding me to keep moving. I am reminded hourly to walk. As someone whose mind requires activities and a change of pace to keep active, this is a godsend. I’ll even schedule my phone calls around the walk intervals so as to allow myself the break between screen-times. It is fantastic to NEED to be away from the computer every hour for a few minutes.
Garmin does a great job letting me know how my workouts are going. It knows when I start one, tracks the stress associated with that workout and lets me know how I recover thereafter. It is a great resource for knowing when to push beyond my plans and which days it’s time to take it easy. Sometimes its insights are really useful. I’ll often increase or decrease the intensity of my workouts when I know how my “body battery” is looking.
The Garmin is not perfect. It often undersells (or oversells) my level of “body battery.” Their product is beneficial overall. And I’m someone who would recommend it wholeheartedly.
How do you rate your stress?
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[…] really hard and when it is the right time to rest. And I don’t get sick nearly as often. See Quantifying Stress and Energy Reserves for more info on some of the ways I track health […]